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Wang TaoWang Tao (Chinese: 王 韬) (1828-1897) was a Qing dynasty translator, reformist, political columist, newspaper publisher, and fiction writer. He was born as Wang Libin in November 10, 1828 in 甫里 Puli Town in Suzhou prefecture. Life In 1848, Wang Tao went to Shanghai to visit his father. During his stay in Shanghai, Wang Tao visited the London Missionary Society Press. He was warmly greeted by Walter Henry Medhurst and his daughters Mary and Ellen. Wang Tao also met missionaries William Muirhead, Joseph Edkins, and William Charles Milne, all well versed in spoken and written Chinese language. Work with the London Missionary Society In 1849 Wang Tao's father died, Wang Tao was looking for job to support his family, he was offered a job by Walter Henry Medhurst to work at London Missionary Society Press in Shanghai to assist in his translation of the New Testament into Chinese. Wang Tao worked at the London Missionary Society Press for the next 13 years, in this period, Wang Tao also in collaboration with missionaries Alexander Wylie and Joseph Edkins translated many English books into Chinese, including "Pictorial Optics", "An Elementary Introduction to Mechanics", "Concise History of Sino-British Trade", "A History of Astronomy of the Western Countries" Took Refuge in Hong Kong The middle of 19th century was a period of turmoil in China. In 1860, the Taiping Rebellion captured Suzhou, Changzhou, and threatened Shanghai. During this period, Wang Tao had contact with leaders of the Taiping Kingdom. In 1862, Wang Tao even wrote a letter under the pseudonym Wang Wan addressed to a leader of Taiping. He proposed tactics against the Qing military and suggested that westerners were not enemy of Taiping. He stated that the real enemy was the Qing government, if Taiping army can achieve victory over Qing army led by Zeng Guofan, then the westerners could take side with Taiping kingdom. When Qing army captured Shanghai, this letter fell into the hands of Qing government, Emperor Tongzhi ordered Wang Tao to be arrested. Wang Tao took refuge in the British Consulate for more than four months. In October 1862, disguised Wang Tao was escorted by several people from the British Consulate boarded a Ewo ship to Hong Kong, left his homeland not to return for twenty two years. In Hong Kong, he changed his name from Wang Libin to Wang Tao. At Hong Kong, James Legge, the principal of Anglo-Chinese College invited Wang Tao to assist on translation of "The Thirteen Chinese Classics". By 1865, James Legge with the collaboration of Wang Tao completed the translation of "Shang Shu" and "Bamboo Book Annals". Move to Scotland In 1867, James Legge returned to Scotland. He wrote a letter to Wang Tao invited him to to come to Scotland to continue assist in the translation of more Chinese classics. Wang Tao board a ship and departed from Hong Kong. The ship stopped over at Singapore, Ceylong, Penang, Aden, Messina, Cairo and reached Marseille. The voyage from Hong Kong to Marseille took more than forty days. Wang Tao took opportunity to sight seeing on all the port of call. From Marseille, Wang Tao took a train to Lyon, then to Paris, cross the Channel from Calais to Dover, rode a train to London then settled down in Danbiane, Scotland. During his journey Wang Tao jotted down his impression about the places he visited, he later collected part of these material into his travel book, "Jottings from Carefree Travel", the very first travel book about Europe by a Chinese scholar. In 1867 Wang Tao was invited by the Chamberlain of Oxford University to delivered a speech in Chinese, first ever speech delivered by a Chinese scholar in Oxford. He talked about the importance of culture exchange between the east and the west, and that east and west all headed toward a common Datong (great unity). By the Spring of 1870 the translation of various classics such as "The Book of Songs" I Ching, The Book of Rites etc were completed. During 1867-1870, Wang Tao travelled to many places, including Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Glasgow. The travel notes about these places were also included in his book "Jottings of Carefree Travel" Return to Hong Kong Having finished his part in the translation of the Chinese Classics, Wang Tao returned to Hong Kong in the Winter of 1870. In Hong Kong, he wrote two influential books: A Brief Introduction to France and Report on the Franco-Prussian War. The latter was highly regarded by high mandarins of Qing government, including Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, this paved the way for his final pardon by Qing goverment later. In 1872, Wang Tao bought the printing press of London Mission in Hong Kong and founded Zhong Hua General Printing House. In 1874, Wang Tao founded Circular Daily (循环日报), the first Chinese daily newspaper in history. Lin Yutang called Wang Tao the Father of Chinese Newspaper. During the ten years carrier as editor in chief of Circular Daily, Wang Tao wrote serveral hundred editorials calling for reform of Chinese political system, reform of education, and establishment of textile, mining,railway, machinery and mining industries. His influential editorial articles reached wide audience. He was the defacto forerunner of the reformist movement in China. Visit to Japan In 1879, at the invitation of Japanese literati, Wang Tao travel to Japan for over four months, he visited many cities such as Nagasaki, Nagoya and Tokyo, notes of this travel became one of his book: "Japan Travel". In Japan, wherever he went, he was surrounded by literati, some times in sedan carried by eight people. As a scholar who lived in Europe with in-depth understanding of European politics and culture, Wang Tao enjoyed very high esteem in Japan. Wang Tao's travel needs were also taken care of by the Qing Embassy in Japan. Wang Tao was apparently quite moved by his warm welcome in Japan. He wrote that when he left Japan, he was treated with a grand dinner party attended by more than one hundred celebrities, that he never thought he could became so famous and important, because during his youth at Puli township, he was a nobody. "How lucky I am to get such welcome by foreign scholars several thousand miles away", he wrote. Return to Shanghai The fame of Wang Tao enjoyed oversea must have an impact on the Qin goverment. In 1884, the influential Li Hongzang sent a letter to the governor of Shanghai, he wrote "That gentleman from Kunshan is a rare genius with encycopedia knowledge. It is a pity he took exile in Hong Kong, if it is possible to get his service for us, we are don't mind a king's ransom". In the spring of 1884, Wang Tao and his family returned to Shanghai, settled down in Wushong district, he also founded Yi Garden Publishing House. He called himself The Recluse of Yi Garden. In 1886, Wang Tao became the head of Gezhi College in Shanghai, where he pushed for western style education. He also worked part time for Shen Pao and International Tribune as special columist. On April 1897 Wang Tao died in Shanghai at age 70. Impact There were many literati before Wang Tao introduced western ideas, translated books into Chinese. Wang Tao was the first Chinese scholar participated in two way cultural exchange; on the one hand, Wang Tao worked with W.A. Medhurst A. Wylie, J. Edkins translated western religion books, western sciences into China, on the other hand, Wang Tao also played an important role in assisting James Legge in translation of large number important ancient Chinese classics into English. Wang Tao forged a bridge between China and the West. Wang Tao Memorial Hall is located in a Qing style house at No 6. Zhongshi Street, Luzhi township, Suzhou city, China. Works Translations by James Legge assisted by Wang Tao - (The list below is incomplete)
- James Legge: The Sacred Books of China. The Text of Confucianism (Oxford 1885)
- The Book of Change ISBN 0883560003
- Confucius Analects
- Mencius
- Shu Ching Book of History
- Lao Tsu
- The Hsiao King Or Classic Of Filial Piety (ISBN 1419166875)
- THE FOUR BOOKS. CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. THE GREAT LEARNING. THE DOCTRINE OF THE MEAN. THE WORKS OF MENCIUS.
Some of the above listed Translation by James Legge are available as ebooks for as low as $2 each, because no one holds copyright. However some of the orginal books are now rare collector's item, with prices as high as $4500 Wang Tao's work in English - "My Sojourn in Hong Kong." In John and Kirstin Miller, Hong Kong. San Franscisco: Chronicle Books, 1994.
- "Selections from Jottings from Carefree Travels" you sui lu. Tr. Ian Chapman. Renditions 53/54
- "Writings of Wang Tao." excerpts. In Ssu-yu Teng and John K. Fairbank : China's Response to the West: A Documentary Survey, 1839-1923. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1954, 137-42.
Translations from English into Chinese - A History of Astronomy of the Western Countries (Xiguo Tianxue Yuanliu), translated with A. Wylie in 1858
- W Whewell's An elementary treatise on mechanics, translated with A. Wylie
Books in Chinese - 普法战纪 "Pu Fa Zhan Ji" Franco Prussian War
- 法国志略 "Brief History of France"
- "Song Bin Shuo Hua (Stories from the Shore of Wushong) ISBN 7-5366-3197-9. A collection of short stories written by Wang Tao after he returned to Shanghai, one story a time on newspaper, then collected into book form. The style of this story book was inspired by Pu Song Ling's Liao Zhai Zhi Yi Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, hence this book was also knowned as Liao Zhai Zhi Yi --The Sequel. The translation of "Song bin" as Shore of Wushong is my interpretation. In his later years, he lived at Wushong district at the north part of Shanghai.
- 漫游随录图记 : "Man Yiu Shui Lu Tu Ji " ("Jottings and Drawings from Carefree Travel" ) ISBN：7806039562, 山东画报出版社 2004/6. This book was first published in Shanghai in 1890, text by Wang Tao, drawings by Zhang Zhi Yi. ::50 of the 51 illustrations in Wang Tao's book "Man Yiu Shui Lu" were drawn by Zhang Zhi Yin before 1887 AD. It is quite clear that these drawings were not life sketches of real scenes.
- 韬园文录外编 (Essays from Tao Garden )ISBN：7806227873, 上海书店 2002
- "Jing Shu Jie Chun" A Collection of Studies in Classics
- "Xi Shu Jie Chun" A Collection on Studies in Western Ideas.
Notes - The water town 甫里 Puli was the named after Tang Dynasty poet Lu Puli; Puli Town is now Luzhi township.
Water town Luzhi is 18 km east of Suzhou city, now on UNESCO'S list of World Cultural Heritage, also a four A tourist site Almost all references about Wang Tao mentioned that Wang Tao was borned in "Wu county", only Wang Tao hismself pinpointed his birth place as PULI township in his 漫游随录 Man Yiu Shui Lu. Encyclopedia Britannica has the birth place of Wang Tao transliterated incorrectly as Fu-li-chen. 甫 indeed can be pronounced as fu, but 甫里 is Pu-li, not Fu-li, one syllable wrong caused EB moved Wang Tao's hometown from Suzhou to Manchuria. - The names of W.H.Medhurst daughters was given by Wang Tao in Chinese as Ma-Li and Ai-lun in hs book:漫游随录 Man Yiu Shui Lu Tu Shu Chapter 8,"Sails and Masts on WangPu River". I am quite sure Ma Li was Mary, I first thought Ai-lun was Helen, until I searched the internet and find out that Medhurst had two daughters Mary and Ellen. Now I am 95% sure that I got these names right.
- Ewo, the Chinese name of Jardine Matheson. The name of the ship was called "Lu Na" in Wang Tao's book . Was it Lunar ? I am not yet able to find a list of Jardine Matheson ships in late 19 century, running between Shanghai and Hong Kong.
- The names of all the port of call on Wang Tao's voyage from Hong Kong to England can be found in Wang Tao's Man Yiu Shui Lu Vol 1, Vol 2.
- For more detail about Wang Tao's speech at Oxford, see the chapter "Lun Dun Xiao Yie"(Stop Over at London ) in the book "Man Yiu Shui Lu" by Wang Tao
- This list of Japanese cities Wang Tao visited is an incomplete list from Wang Tao's preface to his book Man Yiu Shui Lu.
- Carried by eight Man- sedan, see Wang Tao Preface to Man Yiu Shui Lu.
- Kunshan is a city east of Luzhi town. When Wang Tao was 16 years old, he attended an examination at Kunshan prefacture. See his book Man Yiu Shui Lu, article "Deng Shan Yian Tiao" ("View from the Hill")
- See Introduction by Wang Jia Ju to Man Yiu Shui Lu Tu Shuo. Li Hongzhan's statement was in Chinese of course. The translation is mine.
Disclaimer - The source text of this article is completely mine work, it took me one week of research, mostly Chinese books
- All the sketches were scanned from Wang Tao's book Man Yiu Shui Lu Tu Shuo, which was orginally published in 1890, more than one hundred years old, hence there is no copyright issue.
Wang, Tao Wang, Tao
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